For the past 18 months to 2 years, I’ve been having some soreness in my hamstrings. Most of this is when I run, but sometimes I can feel it during other things, like biking uphill. This has never really caused me to quit a run, but I have felt the need to dial back the pace in order to not pull the hamstring or try to avoid whatever is going on back there.
Seeing as we’re in the midst of the off-season, I decided to have the hamstring checked out. (AGAIN with the checked out…you know, Costanza has the slight discoloration). Anyway, I digress. I decided to go see Dr. Terry Nicola who is well-known and respected within the Chicago running and athletic community. I want to figure out what’s going on and I want it to go away. Even the lay off from the last injury didn’t help this hamstring issue as I have still been feeling the hamstring in my last couple of runs.
Dr. Nicola’s office is hidden away in one of the Athletic buildings at UIC. A nice student had to point me in the right diretion. Surprisingly, my wait in the office was only about 10 minutes before I was taken to one of the examining rooms. I was asked a ton of questions and then we did some range of motion exercises as well as strength exercises. Suffice it to say I was told I have some serious issues going on. (No kidding, that’s why I went to see a doctor.) My jaw about hit the floor when he said, “You have to stop running.” My first reaction was, “You’re kidding. How about just slow, easy runs in zone 1? How about no hills?” Um, no. Now my heart was sinking to the bottom of my stomach when I thought about how long I’ve already been off from running. This cannot be happening.
I dejectedly walked out of his office and scheduled an MRI. I tried to remind myself that I was doing this as a precautionary measure because, although I was able to run fast and even qualify for Boston with the hamstring bothering me, at some point, I know something is going to give. But this just feels like the shin splint/stress fracture all over again. I feel like this MRI thing and “no running” sentence is just overkill, but how can I argue with this guy? He’s the best there is. And he wouldn’t tell me do to this if he didn’t think it was absolutely necessary……would he?
I got home and looked at the weather forcast for today (-2) and then decided I was happy I couldn’t run. Guess I just have to focus on other things for now. Here we go again!
